Conventionally, a roof panel forming the upper surface of a vehicle body is arranged between a pair of side components that are provided on the left side and the right side of the vehicle body and form the sides portions of the vehicle body, and roof arches are arranged to reinforce the upper portion of the vehicle body, the upper portion including the roof panel.
FIG. 14A is a partial vertical cross-sectional view of a vehicle body structure in a conventional example in Patent Document 1, with a cut in the vehicle-transversal direction, and FIG. 14B is a partial vertical cross-sectional view of the vehicle body structure disclosed by Patent Document 1, with a cut in the vehicle-transversal direction.
For example, as shown in FIG. 14A, an invention is taken as a conventional example in Patent Document 1, wherein a side component 100 includes a roof side inner 110 disposed on the vehicle interior side and a roof side outer 120 disposed on the vehicle exterior side of the roof side inner 110, wherein the outer end portion of the roof arch 130 in the vehicle-transversal direction is fixed on the vehicle interior side of the roof side inner 110, and the outer end portion of the roof panel 140 in the vehicle-transversal direction is fixed on the vehicle exterior side of the roof side outer 120.
According to this invention, if the roof arch 130 is mounted onto the side component 100 from above, these two interfere with each other so that the roof arch 130 cannot be disposed on the vehicle interior side of the roof side inner 110. Accordingly, the roof arch 130 needs to be carried onto the narrow vehicle interior side to be attached, which makes the workability in assembling low, and makes automatization of assembling work difficult.
In this situation, in the invention disclosed by Patent Document 1, as shown in FIG. 14B, an outer end portion of a roof arch 230 in the vehicle-transversal direction is subjected to crush processing, and the portion 230A, whose cross-sectional shape has been crushed, is fixed to the upper portion of a side component 200. Thus, by this structure, the roof arch 230 is mounted onto the side component 200 from above so that the workability in assembling is improved, and automatization of assembling work is easily attained. Incidentally, the reference numbers in FIG. 14B for like parts of FIG. 14A are increased by 100.
However, in the invention disclosed by Patent Document 1, as there are portions with a crushed cross-sectional shape, strength and stiffness are decreased, which causes problems that forces for reducing vibration and noises generated during driving of the vehicle are decreased, or the distortion amount of the vehicle body increases when lateral collision, rollover (overturn), or the like has occurred.
FIG. 15A is a plan view showing the vehicle body structure by the invention disclosed by Patent Document 2, and FIG. 15B is a cross-sectional view, taken along line VII-VII in FIG. 15A.
As a solution of the above-described problems, Patent Document 2 discloses an invention, as shown in FIGS. 15A and 15B, wherein a roof arch 300 is structured by joining a roof rail outer 310 and a roof rail inner 320 such as to form a closed cross-section, and an extension member 330 and a pillar reinforce member 340, which are joined such as to form a closed cross-section, are fixed to a side component 350 (the upper surface of a roof side inner 360 in more detail).
Further, in the invention disclosed by Patent Document 2, as shown in FIG. 15B, the end edge 310A of the roof outer 310 protrudes in the vehicle-transversal direction outside the end edge 320A of the roof rail inner 320. Further, the end edge 330A of the extension member 330 protrudes vehicle-transversally toward the center from the end edge 340A of a pillar reinforce member 340, and the end edge 310A of the roof rail outer 310 is mounted and fixed on the end edge 340A of the pillar reinforce member 340. Still further, the end edge 320A of the roof rail inner 320 is mounted and fixed on the end edge 330A of the extension member 330.
That is, according to the invention disclosed by Patent Document 2, as the roof arch 300 (the roof rail outer 310 and the roof rail inner 320) is mounted from above the side component 350 (the extension member 330 and the pillar reinforce member 340), assemblability improves and automatization of assembling work becomes easy. Further, on the other hand, as it is possible to connect these without crushing the cross-sectional shape (closed cross-section) of these, strength and stiffness are increased, compared with the invention disclosed by Patent Document 1 in which portions with a crushed cross-section are included.